More than 100 people in Northern Ireland face losing their jobs with the closure of nine HMV stores.

A total of 109 people work in the NI shops that are among 66 UK-wide that will close over the next two months.

The administrators said those due to shut in Northern Ireland include the music and DVD retailer's shops at Boucher Road and Forestside, Belfast.

Stores at Ballymena, Coleraine, Craigavon, Londonderry, Lisburn, Newry and Newtownabbey will also close.

Tony Creggan is deputy manager of the Derry store.

"It's devastating for everybody who works in here and I've been here 10 years," he said.

"I'm really going to miss the local people and all the people I've worked with, all the music I've listened to, all the memories, you know, it's been part of my culture for the last 10 years."

Glynn Roberts, chief executive of the NI Independent Retail Trade Association (NIIRTA) said: "It is a sad loss to our retail sector both in terms of the jobs... But also it will result in less footfall for the surrounding traders in the high streets and town centres in which HMV operated.

Image caption
Glyn Roberts said this was "a sad loss" for the retail sector

"It is a sad loss to the employees and to our retail sector as a whole."

Mr Roberts said it was disappointing that HMV joined a long list of retailers closing their doors because of this recession. Across the UK, the closures will affect a total of 930 staff.

A spokeswoman for the administrators, Deloitte, said that there would generally be redundancies in Northern Ireland but there was a small opportunity for some staff to be redeployed.

Last week, it was confirmed that about 190 jobs had been shed across HMV's head office and distribution network.

HMV entered administration in January. It has faced intense competition from online retailers, digital downloads and supermarkets in recent years.

HMV currently operates from 220 stores in the UK.

JOBS LOST BY STORE

Boucher Rd, Belfast 9

Forestside, Belfast 12

Ballymena 11

Coleraine 10

Craigavon 15

Derry 15

Lisburn 12

Newry 13

Newtownabbey 12

Deloitte said no fixed date had been set for the closure of the 66 identified stores, which would continue to trade in the meantime.

"This step has been taken in order to enhance the prospects of securing the business' future as a going concern," Nick Edwards, joint administrator at Deloitte, said.

"We continue to receive strong support from staff and are extremely grateful to them for their commitment during an understandably difficult period. All other key stakeholders remain very supportive and I continue to be hopeful of securing a future for the restructured business."